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Again with Bridgehead. They had a quinoa chocolate cake and I wanted to try to make something like it.

Chocolate Cake (Original)

• ⅔ Cup Quinoa
• 1⅓ Cup Water
• ¼ Cup Flax Seeds
• ½ Cup Water
• ⅓ Cup Almond Milk
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• ¾ Cup Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
• 1½ Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1½ Tsp Baking Powder
• ½ Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Salt

1. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a sauce pan. Cover and reduce to a simmer for ten minutes. Turn the heat off, fluff with a fork and let cool for another ten minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
3. Grease a spring form pan for the cake. If you use a different pan, also cover the bottom with parchment paper.
4. Grind the flax seeds and mix with the half cup hot water to a bowl. Let cool.
5. Combine almond milk, flax mix, and vanilla in a large bowl using an immersion blender or food processor.
6. Add the cooked quinoa and butter to the same bowl and blend.
7. In another large bowl, mix the sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the blended quinoa mixture and mix well.
8. Pour into the greased pan.
9. Bake for 45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
10. Let cool.

Chocolate Frosting (Original)

• 2 Cups Icing Sugar
• ¼ Cup Vegan Butter
• ¼ Cup Almond Milk
• ¾ Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• ½ Tsp Vanilla

1. Cream sugar and butter.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Add almond milk by the tea spoon if it’s too hard.
3. Place frosting on top of cooled cake.

Thoughts

The cake was moist. I was in a rush when I made it, so I didn’t give it adequate time to cool before I threw on the frosting. As a result it kind of sunk into the center displacing the batter. You could tell the quinoa and flax meal were there, but it impinge on the taste.

This wasn’t as dense as the usual flourless chocolate cakes and safe dairy-wise. I was wondering how I could enhance the presentation. Maybe a draw pattern on top with white glaze and/or top it with cherry pie filling.

I experimented this weekend, preparing vegan & gluten-free butter tarts. I was looking online for recipes, and they all called for raisins – which I really don’t like. So I improvised.

Vegan & Gluten-Free Butter Tarts (Original Recipe)

Makes 12 tarts.

Pastry

• 3 Cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Nutmeg
• ½ Tsp Salt
• 1 Cup Vegan Butter
• ¼ Cup Ice Water

1. Oil and flour the wells of a muffin tin.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter and mix until crumbly.
3. Add the water and form into a ball of dough. Add more water by the tablespoon if necessary.
4. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
5. Roll out the dough so that it’s ¼ inch thick and cut out twelve circles. Place in the muffin tin.

Filling

• ½ Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Agar Agar
• ½ Cup Vegan Butter
• ½ Cup Maple Syrup
• 2 Tsp Vanilla
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Mix the sugar and agar powder in a bowl.
3. Add the maple syrup to the bowl and mix.
4. Melt the butter and add to the bowl. If you’re using a vegan spread like Earth Balance, you can brown it instead of just melting it.
5. Add the corn starch and mix.
6. Pour the filling in the prepared shells.
7. Bake until puffed and browned, about 10-12 minutes.
8. Let cool to allow the agar agar to set.

Thoughts

This recipe diverges from the original a bit. A whole nutmeg became ground nutmeg, which is more readily available. The agar agar was added as the mechanism through which to gelatinize the filling. I’m not sure if two flax eggs would have also worked.

Overall, these are okay. The shells are a bit thick. Perhaps cutting down the pastry ingredients by up to a third next time. The filling meanwhile is very average. Perhaps mixing in chopped pecans or walnuts could have given it that extra kick.

This is a functional treat and I can see me making these again, though I do think there’s room for improvement.

I had made a sweet maple-infused bread that wasn’t all that spectacular so I decided to turn it into bread pudding! I stole the idea from a bakery up the road that has incredible white chocolate versions.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding (Original Recipe)

Makes four 4.5″ tarts. Approximately 500 calories per serving.

• 4 Stale Slices of Sweet Bread
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 112g White Chocolate Chips
• 2 Eggs
• ½ Cup Milk
• ½ Cup Whipping Cream
• 3 Tbsp Sugar
• 3 Tsp Vanilla

1. Cut the bread into half-inch cubes and place in four 4.5″ tart pans. Make sure the bread is more or less level with itself. Protruding pieces will toast when the tarts are baked later on.
2. Drizzle melted butter on top of the bread.
3. Spread the chocolate chips on top.
4. Whisk the eggs in a bowl.
5. Combine the milk, cream, vanilla, and sugar in a small sauce pan. Stir frequently as you bring to a boil.
6. Pour the hot milk mixture into the bowl with the eggs, stirring constantly. Don’t whisk as the custard will foam.
7. Strain the custard over the egg and chocolate. Let stand for 10 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 325F.
9. Bake the tarts for 20-25 minutes, or until brown on top.
10. Serve warm.

If served after the tarts have cooled, throw them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

Thoughts

Delicious. There was a bit of dry toasted bread from where it protruded. I think making sure that the bread was all level with itself would have solved this. I wasn’t sure whether to add more melted butter, but it seemed right by the end. Maybe concentrate more of the hot custard in the center.

Make sure to microwave if these have sat in the fridge overnight; they don’t taste good cold nor dry.

Second Attempt Notes

For the second attempt, instead of cutting up the bread in cubes, I just punched out slices of bread using the tart pans. It made the end result more consistent and more like the products from the bakery up the road. I also cut down the white chocolate chips by half – I think next time I’d go back to the original amount. I used a loaf of my whole wheat bread – I think next time I’d use white bread or something softer.

Still delicious. This recipe is now one of my favourites.

I like to make food, especially baked treats. It’s play time. I start off with an idea of what I want the end product to be, then I might grab a base recipe and muck around with the ingredients and process.

More often than not it doesn’t come out the way I envisioned. If at all! Which is fine, because the fun is from that excitement of trying new things and seeing what ways I can make it better the next time! Also, sugar + butter is usually tasty, irrespective of the outcome.

I’ve been experimenting with bread. First I wanted one with lots of seeds that looked like one I got at the grocery store.

I discovered that two tablespoons of sesame seeds to a white bread recipe makes them really savoury. (Recipe: 3 cups unbleached flour, 1 1/4 cup water, 2 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp instant yeast, 2 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tsp salt.)

Adding a tablespoon of flax seeds and substituting half a cup of the unbleached flour for whole wheat will give it a more distinct look, at the expense of a dryer texture and weaker taste.

Next up was maple-flavoured bread. Two attempts, neither of which had a hint of maple – even when I had a third of a cup of maple syrup and 1 tsp of maple extract mixed into the water (Recipe: 3 cups unbleached flour, 1 cup water mixed with 1 tsp maple extract, 1/3 cup maple syrup, 1 tbsp instant yeast, 1 tsp salt.) For my third attempt I’ll up that to 2 tsp of maple extract, add 2 tbsp oil, and cut the salt by half. If that doesn’t work, I’ll make maple bread pudding with it.

I’ve also been making meals with the bread and playing around there too. The one below worked real well. Sesame bread topped with Greek yoghurt, grilled asparagus, and Italian veggie dogs. Dressed with maple barbecue sauce and pepper.

Another thing I tried to make was morning buns like they have at Bridgehead. If you’re not familiar with the concept, they look like cinnamon rolls. Only they’re made of puff pastry (what croissants are made of) and sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar mix instead of a glaze.

I bought the puff pastry for the first round of experimentation. I found that I couldn’t get them to rise all that well and the end result was under-baked. More tests needed! Still yummy. How can you go wrong with dough loaded in butter.

I went back to the tried-and-true vegan cinnamon roll doughnut recipe for a bit more success. Tasty, as ever. It too was the result of playing around.

A delicious month indeed.